Yandex Browser launches user complaint button as alternative to ad blocking software
· Advanced machine learning technology addresses imbalance between user and advertiser interests by putting users in control of ads they want to see
· Move will help achieve golden mean between publishers and users interests
· Yandex to share data insights with advertisers to improve advertising
Moscow and London, UK. 23 August 2016. Yandex, a leading global mobile and machine learning company, has introduced a complaint button for annoying ads to the alpha version of its browser for Android OS. The feature allows users to block unwanted ads on any web page visited and enables real-time understanding of user preferences with the help of Yandex’s pioneering artificial intelligence and machine learning technology. Yandex will share this data with advertisers and publishers so they can improve ad display policies and develop more effective campaigns.
Yandex’s new ad blocking feature provides users with an alternative to ad blocking software. The complaint button is part of the company’s long-term strategy to achieve the golden mean between what users prefer and what publishers seek to achieve with regards to advertising revenue. For every ad blocked, Yandex will automatically receive a report and will begin filtering irrelevant ads utilising machine learning technology, while also gaining an understanding of the reasons behind user ad blocking. Yandex will share data insights with advertisers so they can create more targeted and effective campaigns that are relevant to users, reducing the need to install ad blocking software. The number of Yandex Browser desktop users installing ad blockers has grown 20 per cent since October 2015.
“People don’t hate online advertisements in general – it’s the bad ads that are annoying. Ad blockers, however, block almost all ads indiscriminately, which negatively impacts good advertisers and website publishers. This, in turn, has a negative effect on web users,” says Roman Ivanov, Head of Projects in Yandex Browser. “Our goal is to identify what type of advertisement is unacceptable for our users so that we can block it in the browser automatically. To achieve this we will be analysing ad blocking reports received from every single user who blocks an ad on our browser, using our pioneering AI-based technology.”
Dmitry Popov, Head of the Yandex Advertising Network, said, “The overwhelming majority of popular web services and websites that people use every day, including online media, search engines, email, maps and social networks, wouldn’t exist or evolve without advertising. The total removal of ads, provided by ad blockers that currently exist on the market, is incompatible with the principle business model on which all free web services are based. Advertisements are indispensable, but it should consider the interests of the user and be useful rather than annoying. Yandex Browser’s initiative will help all market participants improve current advertising products, eliminate those that are inefficient and develop those that will be able to provide the best possible customer engagement.”
In addition to the new ad blocking feature, Yandex Browser supports external ad blockers and has the in-built malware protection technology, Antishock, which automatically filters out malicious advertisements.
The latest version of Yandex Browser for Android alpha version can be downloaded for free in Google Play. The Browser comes in versions for desktop computers, iPad, iPhone, Android smartphones and tablets. Its daily user audience on mobile was about five million in July 2016. Yandex’s Browser is the most popular unbundled mobile browser in Russia, according to LiveInternet.ru.
About Yandex
Yandex (NASDAQ: YNDX) is an information technology company that provides user-centric products and services based on the latest innovations in information retrieval, machine learning and artificial intelligence research to a worldwide customer audience. The company currently operates in nine countries with offices in 17 locations, including Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Berlin, Amsterdam, Lucerne, Istanbul and Shanghai.
For more information, please contact:
Yandex@atomicpr.com or call +44 203 861 3911
karina-sh@yandex-team.ru or call +7 926 051 3985
